Mum slams school after goalposts broke boy’s neck

SCHOOLS chiefs should have rebuilt troubled Liberton High “a long time ago”, the mum of a 12-year-old boy who broke his neck after goalposts collapsed on him has said.

Liberton is one of four city secondaries set to benefit from a £150 million council investment – with city chiefs yet to decide whether it should be refurbished or replaced entirely.

But Louise Ramsay, mum of injured schoolboy Alan, insisted money should have been pumped into the school long before now.

She said she blamed the council for her son’s injuries and revealed that no-one from the authority had ever come to see how he was.

Alan was left with bones sticking out of his mouth and neck after jumping up to swing on the two-metre high goalposts during a gym class earlier this year.

And his shock accident happened less than a year after 12-year-old Keane Wallis-Bennett was killed by a free-standing wall as she changed for PE at the same school.

Louise – a former pupil at Liberton herself – said: “The council should have put money in to the school a long time ago. That wall might never have fallen down and my son might never have broken his neck. There is no-one to answer for what happened to that poor girl.

“No-one is getting prosecuted. If the school had either been demolished or reconstructed beforehand, that accident might not have happened.

“I don’t know Keane’s family – but what happened was horrific and she was just a year above my son in school.

“My son is in extreme pain. I blame the council. Alan is back in school now but he’s lost the feeling in his chin and lips.

“No-one ever came to us from the council to see how he was.

“I blame them totally. Boys will be boys and mess around but the goalposts should have been safe for children.”

She added: “I went to that school and as recently as 1997, it was fine. The school, teachers and head teachers are amazing. I was initially very angry with the school after Alan was hurt.

“I wanted the whole school to be demolished but then after a while, I understood it wasn’t actually the school’s fault.

“They have all been amazing, helping Alan back to school and being incredibly supportive.

“He went back to school in May, two months after his accident.

“His neck healed but he is still seeing neurosurgeons because of problems in his blood vessels.

“If that school had been built to a safety standard at the time of these two incidents, Keane might still be alive and my son might never have been so badly hurt.”

A council spokesman insisted upgrading and improving schools is a council priority.

He added: “It’s vital we continue to upgrade our schools and recent facilities like the new teaching block at James Gillespie’s High School and our new primary school classrooms show what can be achieved.”

The Evening News revealed earlier this month that Liberton High, Trinity Academy, Balerno Community High School and Wester Hailes Education Centre have all been shortlisted for possible demolition or upgrades.